Welding is a delicate art, but once you learn it, ordinary steel becomes a blank canvas for invention. These steps will help you with any welding project.

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A thing of beauty is a joy forever. And around our Saturday Mechanic shop, beauty often takes the form of a perfectly laid welding bead--one that looks like a tall stack of dimes laid on its side. Okay, welding has some practical aspects, too. Your world, as a tinkerer and fabricator, fundamentally changes when you can permanently fasten two pieces of steel together in seconds. Sure, it takes years of experience to perfect the craft, and an investment in welding equipment. But don't let the cost intimidate you. For most backyard projects, top-level welders aren't necessary. A consumer-grade welder costs only a few hundred dollars. A better machine lasts longer and has a longer duty cycle, too. But unless you plan on welding a safety cage for your race car, an expensive welder is overkill. A good setup (with accessories and protective gear) costs around $500 and lets you weld mild steel up to 1/4 in. thick.

The first project most new welders tackle is predictable--you need a shop cart to hold that new welder and warehouse the accessories. Our cart took only a few hours to complete. It has a rack along the back for C-clamps, a couple of coat hooks for hanging helmets and wiring, and an upper deck to hold a plasma cutter. The design is simple, so you can customize it for your own needs. Expand on these simple techniques to make patio furniture, repair bicycle frames or build that junkyard sculpture that's been rattling around in your head for years.

So what's the best way to learn welding skills? Sign up for a course at a community college or vo-tech school. You'll learn proper safety procedures, have access to different types of welding machines and get plenty of practice. As you become more skillful, you'll want to tackle more ambitious projects. Have fun--make something beautiful and sturdy.

The Equipment

The Art of Puddle Control

Before you weld two pieces of metal it's important to tack them. Tacks (series of small welds) hold the workpieces together, ensuring they won't warp as you weld. But the one fundamental skill in welding is puddle control. Welding uses a heat source to melt the edge of both workpieces and a filler rod into one molten puddle. Then you simply march the puddle along the seam. It sounds simple, but welding is a delicate dance between heat, filler rod and puddle control.

The Steps

1. Lay it all out. In this case, on a flat, noncombustible surface--the shop floor. Now square up the pieces of the frame and lightly tack-weld them together. Some clamps or weights will hold everything in place.

2. Cut here. You could hacksaw these pieces of Â¾-in. angle iron easily enough, but you can save some time by using an abrasive metal-cutting blade as the wheel in a chop saw. A slow, steady feed cuts fast without making excess heat.

3. Proper tacking is important. Weld just enough to pin the parts together. As you add more parts, adjust to keep everything square. Never finish-weld any joints until you have a fairly complete subassembly that's well tacked; measure diagonally to square things up.

4. Cope it out. We used a plasma cutter to trim part of the angle iron at the joints. This is known as coping, and it allows the pieces to fit more closely. You can achieve the same thing with a grinder or even a hacksaw.

5. Keep adding parts. After you assemble the front and rear frames, add the horizontal frame elements. Another pair of hands can help here. Tack everything together, and check that it's all square before attempting full welds.

6. Good posture helps. If you're not comfortable, the weld bead is going to wander. Use both hands to hold the welding gun, and brace at least one elbow against your torso. Rehearse the movement in longer beads with the welder shut off.

7. Measure, and measure again. As you build up, constantly check the assembly for squareness by measuring across diagonals. Use a few light hammer taps to correct to within 1/8 in. before you finish the weld.

8. End result: We added a handle, a rack for clamps and ground cables at the rear and, of course, wheels and casters. Shelves are made of expanded metal, so they won't collect dust or slag. Then we sandblasted the slag off the welds and finished with Hammertone silver paint. The cart is topped with a plasma cutter--one that cuts 1/4 in.-thick steel plate like warm tofu.

Featured Welding Process

Wire-Feed

Inexpensive wire-feed machines use a spool of hollow, flux-cored wire that feeds out automatically. Originally developed for welding outdoors at windy construction sites, wire-feed welding is ideal for beginners trying to complete projects around the house.

Other Types of Welding

TIG Welding

Instead of a consumable electrode, which conducts current and melts into the metal, a TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) machine has a nonconsumable tungsten electrode to strike the arc and establish the puddle of molten metal. A separate filler rod, held in the welder's other hand, is added to fill the puddle.

MIG Welding

Use a solid-core filler wire, surround it with an inert gas like argon or CO2, and your wire-feed welder becomes a MIG machine (Metal Inert Gas). It leaves a cleaner, slag-free weld and can be used on stainless steel or aluminum.

Stick Welding

A flux-coated metal electrode that melts into the puddle and fills the bead is faster for welding thicker pieces. But stick welding is overkill for a lot of household projects, and it takes practice to do it well.